Lee Barry Composition Diary

A voicing is essentially a redistribution of chord tones, a metaphor taken from SATB voices. For an A major triad there are 3, here in close-position (within an octave), but can be voiced in open-position with the chord tones more spread out.   An inversion is created by the bass notes. To play a root-position triad you play A in the bass and play one of the voicings in the right hand. Playing C# in the bass (and any voicing) creates a first inversion triad. Playing E in the bass (and any voicing) creates a second inversion triad. A simple example of the use of inverted triads is a descending bass line in a scalar pattern (A, G#, F#, E, D, C#, B, A): The chord symbols with the slash behind them are the inversions. You can play these on a guitar, but you will need the contrapuntal bass line to hear the inversions. Simply playing D/F# with the F# on the bottom of the voicing will essentially be more of a voicing. 

The way I've always understood modes is through parent major scales. The  parent major scale for D Dorian is C major, as is E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixoydian, A Aeolian and B Locrian. The best way to hear what modes sound like is on a keyboard with both hands, as opposed to just playing the scale on a guitar or horn. To hear what F Lydian sounds like, play F in the bass and play all the white keys, focusing in on the characteristic note, the #4 (augmented 4th), from the root of the mode, not the root of the parent scale . For G Lydian, play G in the left hand and play a D major scale, again focusing on the #4 (C#). "Pseudokeys" are keys which function like normal keys and have a tonal center, albeit weaker. The most usable pseudokeys are Dorian, Lydian, and Mixolydian, and of course, Aeolian, which is the minor mode. Each of them have unique characteristics: Dorian has a major sixth, in contrast to the minor sixth in natural minor. Lydian has the raised fourth. The I chor...

Calculation of intervals involves some kind of mnemonic or other ways of visualizing them. This is unnecessary when sight-reading because the process of seeing notes and rhythms on a staff and playing them assumes you know what's under your fingers. It's very much like touch-typing. *** Quiz: Loading…

 As an homage to Jeff Beck, I had to transcribe. It's actually written by Max Middleton.

9/26/1999 Interview with Sting on BBC about his new album Brand New Day . Said he had all the music done first and added lyrics later, then he went on long walks, brought his lunch. Said music has a narrative even without words–like the tune, Fill ‘Er Up, it starts out country, goes to techno, then gospel. It’s a collage of context.  Said he’s a permanent student of music. (We all have to be permanent students of something).  Poetry is saying things in strange ways for your own amusement, yet it can mean so much more to someone else.      Music is an extension of our ability to hear. [“Discuss the human Umwelt”] https://bit.ly/musingonmusic  9/26/2016             There has never been any period in music history that has not faded out. What is different in the last 20 years is the internet, which disincentivized and devalued music as a viable art form. Music downloading disincentivized it even further, as well as other fact...

  Purchase the Some June volume at Amazon   June is B Lydian Month. Terranes , from Rifts . *** 6/2/202: Guitar idea ( Gnomadix ) Kessler, Harry. Journey to the Abyss: The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918. United Kingdom, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011. https://worldcat.org/en/title/704383083  Keith Haring Journals https://www.haring.com/!/archives/journals  Peart, Neil. Roadshow: Landscape with Drums : a Concert Tour by Motorcycle. Toronto, Ont: ECW, 2012. Print.   Moonrise In Hernandez: https://youtu.be/QIxG3lkhwQs Weston, Edward. The Daybooks of Edward Weston: California. United States, Aperture, 1973.    Eno, Brian. A Year with Swollen Appendices. Boston, Faber & Faber, 1996. https://monoskop.org/Brian_Eno Field Audio 6/10/2010: Lurie Garden and Millennium Park: https://app.box.com/s/z1nc4av3ji60a07khz9b0awmc5aol0lm Field Audio 6/10/2010: Gehry Bridge Walk: https://app.box.com/s/3babn0q2bmm6cdyenc185zc78k31x4r4 ...